Posts tagged ‘Yaksi’

It’s a particularly happy Monday here in my world, because I have carte blanche to knit a brand-spanking-new pattern with of one of the most divinely delicious yarns in the whole entire dang world.

I have a particular susceptibility to Little Cardigans — they’re basically my wardrobe Kryptonite. Up here in the Pacific Northwest, you never have weather that doesn’t call for A Little Cardigan. Rain? Fog? Damp? Sleet? It’s always handy to have one around to throw on. Plus, they’re the perfect thing to jazz up any underlayer, from a plain T-shirt to a me-made tunic in a cute print fabric. And – extra special bonus – no matter where you go in A Little Cardigan, you get to represent all of us as knitters.

So color me super-happy when Ysolda released Stockbridge: it’s pretty much the trifecta of cardis. Fingering-weight yarn: check. Knitted at a gauge that lets me finish it in this lifetime: check. Perfect excuse for super-cute buttons: check.

And color me even happier when Tina and Maggie chose “Grimm Green” for my colorway. (If left to my own devices, I might have picked YetAnotherGrey, but Tina intervened.) And Yaksi for my yarn … swoon.

Yaksi has a slightly toasted-oatmeal-y undertone to the base yarn, thanks to the yak fiber – so there’s color alchemy that happens when you order a colorway dyed onto this base. You get a rich, mellow warmth to the color that’s hard to describe… and when you’re staring at a color that’s so close to the middle between blue and green that you can’t hardly tell where one stops and the other starts, that’s pretty magical.

How much am I loving this knit? Here’s the tell: I swatched right when I got home from BlueMoonLand on the 23rd, swatched again on a larger needle to get gauge, blocked and dried those swatches – and cast on Friday morning. It’s now Monday, and I just had to wind my second skein, which means I’m officially more than a quarter of the way done with this sweater! Which makes me kind of wistful, actually. (Do you ever knit projects that you can’t bear to finish?)

Right now, it’s Monday afternoon and the rain is thrumming on the roof. If I play my cards right, I can brew another cup of tea, sneak away from my other responsibilities (new patterns? whaat?) and bliss out for just a few more minutes.

If anyone needs me, I’ll be up here in the corner, purring over my yarn!

Oh, and if you want to purr yourself, come find me at the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival in a few weeks. I’ll be wandering the Market Friday through Sunday, and if I continue at this pace, I’ll be wearing my Stockbridge! Don’t be shy – c’mon up and ask to give me what I call a “Knitter’s Handshake.” (That’s where you lightly rub the recipient’s sweater sleeve and say “oooh.”)

Not coming to Madrona? Stockbridge and I will be happily ensconced in the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth at Stitches West in Santa Clara, CA the weekend after! We’ll have two booths of just the most delicious and tempting yarns and samples you ever did see … come say hi! (And if you bring chocolate, you’ll be our saving angels.)

This yarn is all kinds of wonderful. I could wax poetic about the lovely hand it has and how the only reason you want your knit experience to end is so you can wear it as close to your skin as you can get it. It’s so very soft, with loft from the yak and just enough strength from our silk friend. The best testimonial comes from the adorable Rachel one of Twisted PDX’s lovely worked bees (Twistedista’s) who did a test knit it for us. In her words: “This yarn is maybe one of the best things I’ve ever touched…” When I brought in Twisted’s first order of YAKSI, I had to gently remind the staff that there was more where that came from or there would have been not a skein left for their customers. As a maker and seller of yarn this is the best testimonial. Colorwise, it’s an exciting dye for me because it starts all yakky brown and heathery before I add my color sense to it. So much fun.